The problem thus far has been that acquiring new raw materials has been cheaper than recycling old ones, but current shortages and price hikes suggest that the situation could be changing. Calculations made by consultants BCG for business newspaper Handelsblatt suggest that the market volume for circular economies in Germany could amount to EUR 200 billion by 2030. By 2040, BCG says, up to 75 percent of many materials could be reused – provided that private and public players invest EUR 50-60 billion.

The potential is obvious from the gap between recycling and circular economy in Germany.

“Germany is a world champion in recycling and has the best infrastructure for the waste industry,” Henning Wilts, director of the circular economy division at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, told Handelsblatt. “But we’re only average where the circular economy is concerned.”

Big companies in Germany are waking up to the need for change and the potential business opportunities that entails.

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